Theater director Leigh Strimbeck, a Russell Sage College artist-in-residence, is reimagining Euripedes' "The Trojan Women" from the ground up, and she's placing the ancient tale in a post-apocalyptic version of Troy, just across the river.

The city has been decimated and left without electrical power following 10 years of civil war. The women of the title are now prison refugees, gathering by the Hudson to await word from their conquerors and wondering what will become of them.

Euripedes wrote "The Trojan Women," a complex tragedy featuring familiar legendary figures like Helen, Hecuba and Cassandra, in 415 B.C. It has provided a firm basis for many interpretations throughout the ensuing centuries.

Strimbeck, for her part, has written her own adaptation; a "feminist retelling" penned after combing through half a dozen translations. Her take compresses the story into a jam-packed piece just shy of an hour.

More Information

On stage

''THE TROJAN WOMEN''

When: 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. today

Where: James L. Meader Little Theater, Russell Sage College, Troy

Continues: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Friday and Sunday.

Tickets: $8-$10

Info: 244-2248; http://www.sage.edu/theatre

Over a decade ago, she also adapted Euripedes' "Hippolytus" for the University at Albany.

"It's very freeing to go back to this ancient material and see how it applies to today," she says.

Strimbeck has opted to use an all-female cast for the show, in part as both companion and response to David Bunce's recent Theatre Institute at Sage staging of the all-male "Lord of the Flies" at The Shacht Fine Arts Center.

"We felt it would be good for the school and for the students to have a Greek tragedy with an all-female cast," Strimbeck says. "And if you know the Greeks, you know that the works are usually about the concerns and affairs of men, so I though it would be fascinating."

While Strimbeck is setting her highly politicized version in a futuristic Troy, she's not getting Greek, or even William Kennedy-specific, about place and scene, saying,

Following its initial run, "The Trojan Women" will tour to both New York (where Kristie Wortman will take on the role of Helen) and the Berkshires. The first stop is a three-performance run at the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble's First Story Festival, presented at the Wild Theatre Project in Manhattan, March 9 and 10. Later in the month, on March 22, "The Trojan Women" will be a part of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass.

"This is really exciting for the students of Russell Sage," the director says. "To perform in the city with a college production is a thrill."

"It's a very physical production. It's highly stylized. We're trying to do an almost completely different acting style than anyone's used to. Some would call it movement theater."

Strimbeck says that even without her considerable changes, "The Trojan Women" would still speak loudly today.

"What's stunning about this play is that Euripedes wrote it almost 4,000 years ago, and it's about how war is indiscriminately destructive to communities and families and soldiers. I think the play is timeless in that sense. It doesn't look away. This is a play that bears witness. It doesn't look away from what war does to women and children."